Many children in koranic colleges in Senegal face a couple of instances of abuse and monetary exploitation via pressured begging, Amnesty International condemned this on Monday and moved aggressively to Dakar to support students in the same place mentioned before.
In Muslim-majority nations wherein non-secular leaders wield brilliant social and political influence, poor kids have long been entrusted with Koranic colleges referred to as daaras.
Amnesty International said in a report that tens of thousands of students, known as “talibes,” were “forced to beg” as part of a scheme to provide income for teachers.
They also suffer from health problems such as malnutrition and skin diseases and often have “giant abscesses in their mouths” due to unsanitary conditions and lack of care.
Students “also face abuse from some Koranic teachers and their assistants,” the human rights group said in a report.
Teachers told Amnesty International that “cuffing is commonly practised, especially by fugitives, to prevent them from escaping.”
Last January, her 10-year-old student in the Lancer neighbourhood of downtown Touba died of her injuries after being beaten by a teacher for neglecting to study in her daytime class.
There are no official statistics, but it is estimated that there are over 2,000 dalas and nearly 200,000 talibes.